Time After Time
by RyanGosling4Ever
Summary: After being stuck for 2 weeks in the Netherworld, Lync makes it back onto Earth. He's initially excited when he meets up with Alice again - until he realizes that it's now 4 years later... and Alice is engaged to be married to Shun in a month... It's a desperate race against time to win back the heart of the one girl he ever truly cared about, but Shun won't let her go that easily


A/N: This story revolves around **Lync Volan**, and it explores the events that happened during the time that he was stuck in the Netherworld (the alternate dimension that he got sent to), and the events that happen after he makes it back. Please note: This realm's time flows differently from Earth/New Vestroia/Vestal. 4 years have passed on Earth during Lync's 2-week stay in this dimension. He will be 15 in this story, Marucho's 18, Dan/Runo/Julie/Billy will be 19, Shun/Alice/Mira/Ace will be 20, and Keith is 23. Other characters from the first two seasons might make guest appearances, but the cut-off is after the second season. No characters/events from Gundalian Invaders/Mechtanium Surge will be making an appearance here – sorry, but I just did not care anywhere near as much about seasons 3 and 4 as I did seasons 1 and 2. Now that the non-spoiler-but-essential version of the backstory is established, let's get this show started!

**Time After Time**

By: Kitty Zhu-Taylor ( Penname: RyanGosling4Ever)

_It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done… It is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known…_

- A Tale of Two Cities

**Chapter 1: Darkus**

Lync Volan had never given the isolated nature of prison cells back in the palace dungeons on Vestal – or even New Vestroia – much thought before, but now, he understood _exactly_ why solitary confinement was such an effective form of punishment. He hadn't even been in this barren, god-forsaken wasteland of a place for even a week, and he was already going _crazy_. What kind of a place was this anyway…? The skies offered no light whatsoever – just endless masses of stormy clouds, and the landscape was nothing but rocky terrains and doom and gloom as far as the eye could see.

_Am I dead…?_ Lync thought as he walked on, his eyes shifting warily from side to side. The last thing he remembered was his brawl with Prince Hydron. His Ventus Aluze had been obliterated in that fight, and then Hydron had thrown that portal ball, and…

_Ohhhhh…_

Lync inhaled a sharp gasp of shock, as the realization of where he might be hit him like a slap to the face. His stomach dropped with a sickening thud to the depth of his bowels. The Doom Dimension… If _that_ was true, then…

"Oh man, I'm screwed…" Lync whispered, his bright turquoise eyes widening in sheer panic. Hydron's last words came back to him. He could still hear the triumphant taunt in the young prince's voice even now.

_"Are you __**scared**__, Lync? You should be…"_

If what Hydron had thrown _was_ indeed the infamous Death Bomb, he would not be coming out of this one, that much he knew. The grenade was a one-way ticket to the Doom Dimension, and as far as Lync knew, it was a sentence for an eternity in the realm. He swallowed hard, as the reality of the situation slowly sunk in. In one single day, he'd lost _everything_ – his status as a member of the Vexos, his Bakugans, and now his very freedom. What stung the most was the fact that he wasn't even able to accomplish the one thing he'd risked everything to do: make things right between himself and Alice once and for all, and to tell her how truly sorry he was for everything that he'd done to abuse her hospitality and kind nature. He had risked it all to have a chance to tell her that, and he had _failed_…

Alice…

The pink-haired teen's brows furrowed, and his eyes dropped down to the ground with a thoughtful frown. He had found himself thinking a lot about her lately, and the feelings that came with it was something that he wasn't entirely sure he was comfortable with, or even truly understood. It was foreign to him, and confusing, and it was messing with his head in ways that nothing had ever done before. He'd _certainly_ never entertained any thoughts whatsoever of betraying the Vexos, much less _leaving_ them altogether – that was, until the second King Zenoheld threatened Alice's life with the Alternative weapon system.

Lync growled – half in frustration, half in recognition of his own weakness that had landed him in this mess in the first place. What was _wrong_ with him…?! Since when did he _ever_ care about girls like that, and – Heaven Forbid – a human girl, at that! He was the Ventus champion of the entire Vestal race, and had even made it into the Vexos! But no matter what he tried to tell himself, there was no denying the fact that he had still dropped everything he'd ever known – betrayed the very team and mission which he had sworn his allegiance to and thought he'd cared about – that day, to go and try to save and protect Alice and her home from his own team.

"I _am_ a traitor, to my own kind…" Lync spoke out loud to no one in particular, stopping to stare out into the vast, endless landscape. The sound of his own voice in the eerie silence startled him, and the words burned. He wasn't sure why exactly he had felt the need to say that out loud, except maybe just to simply acknowledge and accept it as the truth now. He never really had before, so used was he to his own personality that he'd always just brushed off the accusation from his teammates without a care in the past whenever they brought it up.

_Face it, Lync… _his inner voice taunted him. _That's who you are, and who you've always been. At your core, you are nothing more than a self-serving punk kid always looking out for number one: yourself. And the __**only**__ reason why you went to warn Alice and defend her in the first place was because you felt guilty about having betrayed __**her**__ trust and hospitality as well. You're covering up a betrayal with another betrayal to make yourself feel better and alleviate your guilt, and then trying to justify it as a noble deed._

_No!_ Lync squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head vigorously, trying to shake the voice of his subconscious, while his fists clenched at his sides. _There was no ulterior motive for going to Alice's… I went to warn her because…because… Because if I hadn't, she would've been… And I couldn't… She was the first person to show me real kindness, even when I'd been the enemy and nothing but a jerk… I really couldn't care less what happen to those dweiner brawlers, but if warning her about Zenoheld's Alternative means that she warns them as well, then so be it. I really don't care anymore. Having her safe is the only thing that matters, __**that's**__ my mission now…_

The boy sighed. "Oh Lync, Lync, Lync, how far off the reservation you've gone…" He chided himself. "Six months ago, you had it all, and now…you're stuck in the Doom Dimension for all eternity…"

_Alice, if you're out there and can hear me, I really do hope that you're okay…_

"…Lync…?"

Lync froze at the sudden highly unexpected voice calling his name. He'd been on this realm for a full two and a half days now, and _never_ had he heard or seen anyone else. Instinct kicked in, and Lync whirled on the spot, quickly falling into a defensive stance.

"Wha-?! Who's there?" He demanded, looking around suspiciously, his darting eyes trying to pinpoint where that voice had come from. It sounded painfully familiar – something that reminded him of home, and of the life he left behind that was no longer his. In fact, it sounded a lot like… But it _couldn't_ be…

"…Uh… _Volt_?!"

Lync stared, incredulously, as the imposing figure of Volt Luster stepped out from within what looked like a makeshift shelter of sorts made from some jutting rocks several yards away, that just happened to be conveniently located and formed the way it was.

"It's me," the sullen redhead confirmed with a slight nod.

"No way!" Lync exclaimed with his signature laugh, his features lighting up into a delighted grin at the sight of his former teammate. True, he and Volt had never exactly been the best of friends, despite frequently teaming together in tag-team brawls, but in a desolate place such as this, a familiar face was still a familiar face, and Lync would _definitely_ take what he could. It wasn't that he had anything against Volt. The older boy's eternally grumpy demeanor and fixed scowl at times _seriously_ cramped his style, but other than that, they were decent enough friends.

"So if you're here, then let me guess… _Hydron_?" Volt's eyes narrowed.

"Yeah," Lync's smile vanished instantly at that name, replaced by an irritated scowl. "He ambushed me as I was just about to-" Cutting off mid-sentence, he shifted his eyes to a spot on the ground, his expression hard to read. "Well… let's just say that things have changed, okay? I'm not who I was, and I don't think I'll ever go back to being him again. Anyway, long story short, I challenged Hydron to a brawl, in order to defend a- a friend, and _lost_. Aluze is gone for good, and Hydron… well… here I am," Lync finished with a bitter chuckle. Raising one hand up, he stared at his gloveless hand, and a smile crossed his features. "But I showed him," he smirked. _We'll see just who'll have the last laugh. Too bad the joke's on __**you**__, Hydron!_

"So, what about you?" Lync cocked his head to the side, his bright eyes studying Volt. "The last we heard of you, you'd disappeared, and then next thing we knew, Hydron was strutting back into the palace boasting about how he took care of you once and for all."

"He _what_?" Volt growled. "Why, that self-pompous little…!" His eyes darkened considerably. "I left the Vexos, because I could not stand idly by any longer and support Zenoheld in his latest plan for galactic domination. The Alternative machine is _wrong_, and it was crossing the line between merely seeking power to be the best, which I thought being a part of the Vexos was about, and wiping out millions – possibly _billions_ – of innocent lives, which I did not sign up for, and which I _will not_ support. I went back to my home on Vestal, with every intention of leaving the team for good, but Prince Hydron followed me there. He challenged me to a brawl, which I gladly accepted. Boriates and I defeated him, and like the spoiled brat prince that he is, he couldn't take it, so he banished me to this place by activating a Death Bomb. It was the coward's way out of having to explain himself to Zenoheld."

"Yeah," Lync agreed. "Personally, I really don't understand the blind faith Hydron has in Daddy Dearest. It's like the more Zenoheld puts him down, the more he has to go back in for seconds. Kinda pathetic, really. I mean, hasn't he learned by now? Zenoheld is never going to fully accept him – not now, not ever. If I were him, I would spend less time and energy always trying to please a guy who's obviously never going to be satisfied anyway, and just overthrow him, take the throne, and get it over with already! But hey, what do I know? I'm just little ol' Lync," he finished sourly.

There was a moment's silence between the two, before Volt spoke up again.

"Argh… I wish I knew what was going on out there!"

"Yeah, you and me both," Lync frowned, glancing up towards the unyielding purple and black clouds swirling in the sky.

"So. Your turn. How did _you_ end up in here?"

"Huh?" Lync blinked at the somewhat unexpected question, but he supposed he should've seen it coming sooner or later. "I- Well, like I said, there's kinda this girl involved, and-"

"A… _girl_?" Volt repeated, his normally downcast eyebrows shooting up at what he was hearing. Since when was Lync interested in girls…? Or hell, since _when_ were girls interested in _Lync_?! He must've been stuck here longer than he'd originally thought, to have missed so much! "So… does this _girl_ have a name?"

"Don't be lame, Volt, it's not like that!" Lync snapped, but then paused. At least he didn't _think_ it was like that… He shook his head in frustration, one hand swiping through his wild pink hair distractedly. "It's… _complicated_," he finally concluded, with a sigh. "If you really must know, her name's Alice, alright? She's…" Lync hesitated. How best to describe Alice and what he thought of her to Volt without sounding _completely_ off his rocker? "She's a human girl I met during the time I was stuck on Earth with Spectra and Gus, and… she's really not that bad. Okay, yeah, kinda sucks that her friends are none other than those goody-goody Resistance brawlers, but-"

"Hmm… Human, a girl, _and_ affiliated with the Resistance?" Volt interrupted dryly with a scoff. "_She_ sounds like a keeper."

"Don't talk about her like that!" Lync snapped. A part of him hated how defensive of Alice he had become, but another part of him embraced it. He was quiet for a moment, before continuing. "Even though she didn't have to, she gave me food and shelter. Looking back on it now, I- I guess I was a real pain to deal with, and probably didn't deserve even half of the kindness that she showed me, but… she still put up with me. If it weren't for Alice, I would've been stuck on Earth for way longer than I was that time! So… you see, I wanted to find some way to repay her – how could I just let her die when the Alternative System ends up blowing Earth to smithereens? I _couldn't_! So I snuck into Professor Clay's lab and made a copy of the Alternative blueprint data, and I went to her home on Earth to warn her, but before I had a chance to even see her, Hydron appeared, and… well, you know the rest."

"Sounds like you really liked this _Alice_," Volt observed, some surprise registering in his voice. "Sorry about what happened with that."

"Yeah, well, while Hydron was busy gloating after his victory and not paying attention, I threw one of my gloves with the data chip inside it for Alice to find, before getting completely sucked in by the vortex. I hope she was able to find it, and I hope she's okay…"

Volt nodded. "I noticed that," he commented, giving a slight inclination with his head toward Lync's gloveless hand. "I'm… _surprised_, I have to say, that you did that, Lync. I… didn't think you had it in you," he admitted gruffly. Glancing down at the smaller-statured boy, the corners of Volt's lips lifted into a faint, rare smile. "It was the honorable thing to do, consider me impressed."

"Yeah, well, I'm just full of surprises this week," Lync replied with a shrug. "But what can I say? A pretty girl like Alice was in danger? You know me – how can I stay behind and let that happen?"

"You know, I never really pegged you as the chauvinistic type, Lync, but it kinda suits you," Volt chuckled. His laugh tapered off into a smirk.

"Oh, whatever!" Lync dismissed it casually with a wave of his hand. "What's the matter? _Jealous_?" Despite his words, however, he couldn't help but feel pleased that Volt had acknowledged – and _accepted_ – Alice's importance to him. He _knew_ there was a reason Volt had always been his favorite teammate back on the Vexos. The others would have simply told him to stop with the foolish daydreams of a mere mortal human girl – reminded him of his status as compared to hers, and would have promptly dismissed it as a silly crush at best without batting an eye. He could already hear it now. Mylene, Shadow Prove – _none_ of them would've understood. Hell, Hydron had already lectured him on the matter loud and clear.

"Not that it's any of my business," Volt's voice spoke up, snapping Lync out of his thoughts. "Nor do I really _want_ it to be any of my business, but… if you really like Alice… For what it's worth, _I_ think it was commendable what you did back there, Lync. You were able to do something that I could not, when the time presented itself. When Mylene took Brontes…" His face darkened, and a faraway look momentarily clouded his narrowed eyes, but the moment was gone when he shook his head. "I should have been there for him – should have stood up to her and defended him… But I didn't… and to this day, my failure of Brontes still stands as my biggest regret."

"Well, and here I thought you never talked much," Lync quipped with a smirk. "You know, you probably said more just now than I think I've _ever_ heard you say the entire time we were both part of the team?"

"My _point_ is," Volt continued, sounding a tad irritated at Lync's teasing remark. "Following blindly behind the madness of King Zenoheld is a lot different when there are loved ones at risk, and that is something that I not only should have realized a long time ago, but which I _can't do_ anymore. I used to think that being a part of the Vexos was something to be _proud_ of. We were the best of the best, and it felt _good_ that the public acknowledged us as such – that kids knew our names, and wanted to be just like us. We were heroes to the Vestal people. But somewhere along the way, something changed. Suddenly, we weren't heroes anymore – we were _invaders_. We took over New Vestroia like it was a piece of land destined for us to take, and we enslaved every Bakugan living there. We forced them to fight for our pleasure, and we saw them as nothing more than that. After that, we became blinded by our own ambitions, and there was no going back to how it was before. Soon, '_invaders_' turned into '_enslavers_', and then, into '_killers_'. How did we fall so hard and so fast from our former glory?"

Volt's eyes narrowed. "I know the others won't see what we did – trying to leave the Vexos when things got hairy – the same way we do. They'll see it as a betrayal, as if somehow, even after everything we did in the name of the Vexos without question, we are attempting to leave because we no longer believed in the cause, and so it would be easier to just _leave_. _I_ see it as finally having the courage to stand up and say enough was enough – because what we have turned into is _wrong_. It's about time some of us stood up to Zenoheld and Hydron." His voice was as steely as ever, and his blue eyes were hard as they stared straight ahead. "I only wish we'd done it sooner, and that it hadn't have come down to… well… _this_," Volt gestured to around them.

There was a temporary silence between the two boys when Volt finished. Lync blinked. He hadn't been sure of what to expect when Volt had begun his speech, but it sure as _hell_ hadn't been _this_… Looked like there was much more to Volt Luster than meets the eye…

_Heh… who would've thought…?_ Lync mused to himself. Before he had a chance to reply, however, he heard footsteps coming up behind him, and a familiar, sneering voice piped up.

"Well, well, well… look what the cat dragged in," the newcomer snickered, before bursting out into full-fledged maniacal cackling. For the second time in less than an hour that day, Lync's eyes widened in surprise, and he turned to find himself face-to-face with the arrogantly smirking figure of Shadow Prove, with Mylene not far behind.

"So _this_ is where Prince Hydron sent you two." Mylene looked around, as she walked up to them. "We wondered."

"Yeah, wondered how you two _losers_ lost to Prince _Lameness_," Shadow laughed, his crimson eyes as crazy as ever.

"Be quiet, Shadow!" Mylene snapped impatiently. "Like you could do any better! Out of all the times I've seen you brawl, you've lost more times than I can count! And you _destroyed_ my ship the _one_ time I let you pilot!"

"Aww, that was ages ago!" Shadow whined. "C'mon, and it wasn't like I _destroyed_ it… It was just a little… crash landing. Are you ever gonna let that go?"

"No!" Mylene glared. "One: that was a perfectly good ship that _I_ had to explain to not only Spectra, but the royal brat as well, of what happened and why it was damaged. Two: if I remember correctly, you lost _three_ Bakugans that day in _one_ brawl, to the weakest member of the Resistance!"

"Hey, not my fault he pulled that fake-out card at the last possible second," Shadow pouted with a disdainful sniff of indignation.

"Ugh! Whatever!" Mylene said impatiently. Turning her icy blue eyes to Lync, she frowned disapprovingly. "Lync. What were you thinking? You _know_ the consequences of turning your back on the Vexos. _What_ was so important on Earth, of all places, that you would risk life and limb to protect?"

"Sorry to _disappoint_, Mylene," Lync told her with a nonchalant shrug and smirk. Looking up, he met her eyes – the smile gone in an instant and his bright blue-green eyes narrowing. "But I have my reasons, and last I checked, I don't remember _ever_ having to answer to you! After Spectra left the Vexos, you might have been under the assumption that you became the new team leader – like somehow, the reigns just automatically passed on to you – but you couldn't be more wrong!"

"_What_?" Mylene growled, her face contorting furiously at Lync's words. "Why, you little…!"

"I'm not done yet!" Lync interrupted. Eyes dropping down to stare at the ground, he continued, his voice softening considerably. "I didn't know it at the time, but during my first stay on Earth, I actually learned a lot about myself – of who I am and who I'm not – and it was this that prompted me to do what I did, and stand up to Prince Hydron, and you know what? If I could do it all over again, I would, and I wouldn't change a thing!"

"Ppppphttt, yeah right – _you_, learning about yourself, having a change of heart for the better, blah, blah, blah?" Shadow scoffed. "_Bo-ring_!" A malicious grin twisted at the corners of his mouth. "I bet it was for a _girl_. So who was it, hmm? Mira? She's _hot_," he laughed, licking his lips and running his tongue purposefully against his sharp, animalistic-like teeth. But then, he paused, as if considering something. "Nah, she doesn't really seem like your type," Shadow decided. "Besides, she's too busy stringing along two of the most boring guys in the entire galaxy to know a good time even if it came up and smacked her in the face." He studied Lync for a moment, before a suspecting toothy grin began to cross his features.

"Wait a second…" he started slyly. "Don't tell me it's-"

"No, it's _not_," Lync snapped, annoyed by Shadow's pestering. Why couldn't his former teammates just _leave him alone_ about this particular subject?! He was _not_ going to be having this discussion with them. If either Shadow Prove or Mylene _ever_ found out his little secret… that he had not only developed completely-unintentional feelings for a common Earth girl in a way that even he wasn't at all sure how it all got started, but that she happened to be a Brawler _and_ he had committed the ultimate betrayal all for her sake… he would _never_ hear the end of it. He _did_ have a reputation to uphold, after all…

"There's no _girl_. I- I just decided that it was time for a change, that's all. What King Zenoheld was planning wasn't right, and I wasn't going to have the lives of billions on _my_ conscience."

"_Suuuuuuure_…" Shadow drawled, accompanying it with a maniacal laugh.

"_Enough_!" Mylene snapped, glaring at the two boys. "Why I _ever_ decided to work with you two, I'll _never_ know." Her gaze locked onto Lync, and her expression darkened. "You better listen to me, Lync, and _listen good_," she growled, not bothering to conceal the sneer that was just threatening to curl at the edge of her lips. "After Hydron returned to the palace bragging on and on about how easily he took you down and banished you to parts unknown, I had my doubts about whether he was mentally stable enough to continue onward in dispatching the rest of those pesky Brawlers. He seemed different, as if his grip on reality and his very sanity were slipping away from him. Our team was losing members at what was starting to become an alarming rate, and I was… sorry to see you and Volt go. But now, I see that it had merely been a moment of _weakness_ on my part!"

"Oh boo-hoo, cry me a river," Lync dismissed Mylene casually with a wave of his hand. "Do you ever even hear yourself when you talk? I don't know about anybody else, but all I hear is 'I'm Mylene, and I'm Little Miss Bossy Pants, so you better do what I say, or else!' Ha!" A derisive burst of taunting laughter escaped him. "So dramatic, and _soooo_ annoying."

"I'll show you dramatic, you little _insect_…!" Mylene hissed, glowering furiously at Lync. Her face was livid, alight with an expression of cold hatred.

"Don't _strain_ yourself," Lync mocked with another tinkling laugh. "Wouldn't want you to – oh, I don't know... – _pop_," he winked. He knew he was getting to her. He could see it clear as day in her face. Mylene had always been one of the harder people to read because of her unwavering stoicism, but now, she was practically an open book, unraveling at the edges faster than he'd ever thought her capable.

"Looks like the _Doom Dimension_ lives up to its name," Volt commented drily. "As in I'm going to be stuck here with _you_ guys for all eternity…"

"I'm sorry to burst your bubble," a sudden, disembodied voice spoke up, causing all four Vestals to startle and tense. A distinctly feminine giggle accompanied these words. "But _this_ is hardly the Doom Dimension. The realm which you speak of lies further ahead of here."

"Huh? Who said that?!" Shadow demanded suspiciously, being the first to recover. His wild crimson eyes whipped back and forth, searching their surroundings for the source of the mysterious voice. "Hey, c'mon! Show yourself!"

"As you wish." Out of the swirling mist, a dark figure materialized, its hood drawn so that the shadows obscured its face from view. Its figure was slight, but emanated a certain sense of authority. A second, smaller figure appeared as well, its face, too, hidden in the shadows of a hood.

"Welcome, Strangers. We have been watching you for quite some time now, ever since your separate arrivals into our world." Reaching up with both hands, the figure tipped his hood back to reveal a surprisingly attractive male humanoid who looked to be in his early-to-mid twenties. The only things that betrayed his true race was a set of horns that jutted out from the corners of his forehead, and his unnaturally ashen skin. "My name is Xander, and this—" he gestured to the figure next to him – "is my sister Mari. We are the Guardians of this realm. It has been ever so long since anyone has passed through here."

"What… _is_ this place?" Mylene's brows furrowed. She regarded these two newcomers through narrowed, distrustful eyes. Next to her stood Shadow, Lync, and Volt, each of them wearing similar expressions, and all at the ready for anything. Xander and Mari, however, took no notice of the tense defensive stance of the Vexos.

"It is neither a what, nor a where," Mari was the one to speak up in correcting her. She, too, lowered her hood, revealing clear deep azure eyes. Like her brother, she had a set of horns as well – although they were smaller than his – and the same ashen skin. Where Xander had short, cropped dark blue hair, Mari had long green tresses that tumbled over her shoulders and reached her mid-back, which she shook loose from the hood.

"Where are we?" Shadow demanded. "And you better give us a straight answer, too! No funny business, got it?"

"Why, of course!" Mari casually sauntered over closer to Shadow Prove. Leaning in, she stuck her face close to his, a teasing grin on her face, and a mischievous sparkle in her eyes. "I wouldn't _dream_ of deceiving _you_," she winked at him, running a finger up his chin flirtatiously.

Whatever suspicions he previously had vanished instantly from Shadow's face, and was replaced by an arrogant grin. Before he could say or do anything more, however, Mylene stepped forward with a growl.

"Hey – Back _off_!" Mylene snapped. She couldn't quite explain it, but this girl was _rapidly_ getting on her last nerves… "Now are you going to answer the question or not? We won't ask again! Where are we?"

"Are you _always_ this bossy and impatient?" Mari turned her gaze to Mylene, a hint of annoyance creeping into her tone. "Just a fair warning – it'll get you _nowhere_ with _me_, human." Ignoring Mylene's look of pure outrage and sputtered response at being called 'human', Mari's eyes landed on Lync, where it immediately widened in an expression of delight. "Ooooh, you're _cute_!" She cooed, as she leaned forward to pet him on the head.

"Hey-!" Lync protested, caught completely off guard. "Hey- someone come get this crazy girl _offa_ me! Watch the _hair_!" He managed to duck out of Mari's attack with a pronounced scowl. What was _that_?! Oooh, the _nerve_ of her! Lync knew he was small in stature, and he knew that his hair was most-unfortunately naturally bright pink in color and fluffy – silently, he cursed his family's genetics under his breath – but that did _not_ mean she could treat him like… like a… a _pet_!

"Quit teasing, Mari," Xander scolded her sternly. Mari pouted, but thankfully, did what she was told. Stepping back, she returned to Xander's side.

"You must excuse my sister's behavior," Xander apologized. "She can be a bit unruly at times, and if she has offended, I am truly sorry for that, as that was never our intention. Mari – she's just excited for this bit of company, that's all, as am I. Like I said, it has been… a _while_ since we last had visitors here."

"_Will someone please explain where we are, if this isn't the Doom Dimension?!_" Shadow stomped around in a fit, impatience and frustration tinting his tantrum. "C'mon, it's _driving me CRAZY!_"

"We never said this isn't the Doom Dimension," Xander corrected him, shaking his head with a chuckle.

"Huh?! Well, then-"

"Welcome to the Doom Dimension's… well– _adjacent_," Mari finished with a proud grin, throwing her arms up and outward with flourish, as she gestured to the barren space around them. "Isn't it _beautiful_?"

"Uh… yeah… Something like that…" Lync's eyebrows disappeared completely into his bangs, and he exchanged stunned looks with his teammates. Well, _this_ was certainly news to him… Doom Dimension _adjacent_…?! Was there even such a place?!

Observing the stunned expressions that came over the four Vexos, a rueful smile broke out across Xander's face.

"Come with us," he offered. "We will explain everything on the way to a more comfortable place to talk. Besides, it might be better if you were able to sit—" A smirk briefly tipped at the corner of his mouth – "for some parts of this conversation. It just very well might… blow you away."

**FIN: Chapter 1**

A/N: I've been meaning to write a story about what happened to Lync after he got sucked into the other dimension ever since I braved watching "Payback" (and cried…). I knew he wasn't dead, just "banished", but I also felt like the show really didn't do him justice in giving him a proper ending, so he might as well have died (which I just can't accept!) Thus, this story was born. That, and the fact that I really just wanted to write a Lync/Alice/Shun love triangle story. So, sit back, and enjoy the ride! Next up: Chapter 2 – Subterra.

**Next Chapter Preview**: After finally revealing exactly where they are, the Guardians make the Vexos an offer: pass the upcoming trials at each Gate of Attribute for their respective element, and they are free to leave the realm. Fail – and become lost forever... There are, however, more to the Gates than meets the eye… It's a race to the finish line in a deadly game of Winner Take All, and everything is at stake! This is it: all or nothing…


End file.
